The Andhra Pradesh headquarters of Indian Coast Guard (AP) here plans to conduct 110 Community Interaction Programs (CIP) among the fishermen of Andhra Pradesh so that they can be educated about various aspects particularly about their own safety at sea. Community Interaction Programs are being conducted at various fishing hamlets during ongoing fishing ban period that concludes on June 15. Indian Coast Guard is the nodal agency to undertake and coordinate maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) in the Indian Search and Rescue Region. One of the mandated duties of the force is to provide protection to fishermen including assistance to them at sea while in distress. Undertaking SAR is not an easy task as locating small fishing boat depends on a number of parameters like sea state, last known datum, time delay in transmission of distress etc. According to the Commander, Coast Guard Headquarters (Andhra Pradesh), Visakhapatnam, Deputy Inspector General AK Harbola, as many as 100 community interactions were also conducted during fishing ban period last year and used as a platform to educate fishermen about wide range of issues live importance of adherence to ban period, personal safety, no fishing’ zones etc. Consequently, there was a drastic reductions in the fishermen getting into distress situations at sea, he disclosed. Encouraged by the fact, Indian Coast Guard authorities in close coordination with Navy, Coastal Security Police, IAF and Fisheries would repeat such an exercise taking advantage of ban period when maximum number of fishers are available in hamlets, he stated.